The everyday habits that increase your chances of obesity

Watching too much TV, not sleeping enough and getting to work by car are some of the everyday lifestyle behaviours linked to an increased risk of becoming overweight and obese.

There's no single behaviour that makes you overweight or obese — however, there are a cluster of not-so-healthy behaviours linked to an increased likelihood of being overweight or obese.

Eating meals while watching TV

Watching TV while you eat is a prime example: according to research from the Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center, adults who have their meals in front of the television are 37 percent more likely to be obese than those who aren’t. (The effect holds true for people who watch videos, so don’t think you can worm out of this one by watching YouTube or Netflix.) The study’s lead author Rachel Tumin suggested it might be because you subconsciously eat more when you’re distracted by the TV.

Watching too much TV

Unsurprisingly, if you watch a lot of TV you’re more likely to live a sedentary lifestyle — and the more sedentary you are, the more likely you are to be overweight or obese. So how much TV is too much? According to some studies, you're 80 percent more likely to be obese if you watch 21 or more hours of television a week (so three or more hours a day) compared to someone who watches little to no TV.

Not sleeping enough

Diet and exercise are the two major factors people look to when trying to lose or maintain their weight. But more and more, it’s becoming clear that sleep is a vital third factor: 2016 research suggested that getting five-and-a-half hours sleep or less every night subconsciously compels you to consume more hundreds more calories the next day, equivalent to eating one-and-a-half Mars Bars. That could be because a lack of sleep upsets the reward centre of your brain, or disrupts the hormones that control hunger.

Sleeping too much

In a cruel twist, sleeping too much is as bad for weight gain as sleeping too little. In 2017, University of Glasgow researchers determined that sleeping more than nine hours a night has a “fairly substantial adverse influence on bodyweight” for those with a genetic predisposition towards obesity. Adults are recommended to aim for about seven to nine hours most nights, and to go to sleep and rise at roughly the same time every day.

Spending too much time travelling by car

Sitting is a sedentary activity strongly linked to a higher likelihood of obesity, so it’s no surprise that spending a lot of time in a car is also linked to a higher obesity risk. In 2016, an Australian study found people who spend an hour-plus a day in their cars are 2.3kg heavier and 1.5cm wider around the waist compared with those who spend 15 minutes or less in their cars. Every additional hour increases the risk of obesity by 6 percent.

Drinking a lot of alcohol

Here’s the good news about alcohol: if you’re a man or a woman and you don’t stray above the recommended two standard drinks per day (or four in a single sitting), it’s unlikely to have much effect on your weight, at least in the short term. However, heavy drinking — which includes binge drinking — is linked to an increased obesity likelihood of up to 70 percent, and a stronger risk for men. That could both be because alcohol is energy dense (7 calories per gram), and because you’re more likely to make poor eating decisions when you’re sauced.

Living in the suburbs

Obesity is a problem in every Australian neighbourhood, but statistics show that the problem intensifies the further you get from the centres of major cities. In Australian capitals, 62 percent of adults are overweight or obese — but head to the outer suburbs and that rate jumps to 67 percent, and in remote areas it’s 73 percent. That’s because there’s reduced public transport and opportunities for incidental exercise away from city centres. If you live in the deep burbs, the solution isn’t to move —it’s to make more of an effort to get enough physical activity.

Not drinking enough water

A 2016 study found that Americans who weren’t adequately hydrated (drinking the recommended 8-10 cups per day) were more likely to have a high body mass index. It’s not just because those who don’t drink zero-calorie water down sugary soft drinks instead, but rather because of a mix of biological factors. It’s been proven that, for people trying to lose weight, half a litre of water 30 minutes before a meal can help you lose up to 10kg in three months — so drink up.